HipHopdom

There is a rumor floating in the thin air since a while back making Trick Daddy responsible for a number of attempts seeking to create divisions in the South Florida Hip-Hop community by means of “tricky maneuvers” that it is possible the reason why people associate him with such attempts.

Trick Daddy is tired of those rumors and finally spoke aloud in a recent interview after his name was again associated with some leaked photos depicting Miami rapper Rick Ross as a correctional officer. “We don’t deal with rap beef down here, that’s not in our character,” said Trick Daddy to AllHipHop.

According to Trick there are not hard feelings between him and Rick Ross, but Ross reacted angrily when he was questioned about those pictures portraying him, pictures that supposedly were released by Trick. Trick Daddy added, “Whoever put my name in this is really attacking all of us.”

It is not a secret that Florida and Georgia are states in which beef contenders are always questioned for attacking one another and often denying that those attacks really exist, but the underground war seems to be on.

It seems that having a background as a law enforcer may result embarrassing for someone wanting to earn a respectable place in a hip-hop community, but Trick Daddy and other fellow rappers say that is nothing bad if Rick would admit his past as an officer, which is not a lie.

Nonetheless the question remains in the air, is Trick Daddy behind the beef?

Listen the latest Trick Daddy’s Hits

The official Hip Hop Hall of Fame Awards (HHHHOF) is a ceremony created in 1992 by TV show producer James JT Thompson that eventually became the first independent hip-hop show aired on BET network three years later. The very first ceremony inducted renowned artists such as Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Red Alert, Kool Herc, Eazy E, and Run DMC with Jam Master.

J.T. Thompson announced the return to TV of the Hip Hop Hall of Fame Awards this Fall 2008 and will not only bring back into the scene former presenters but also a whole week of activities associated to this event, including an “Old School Luncheon” reunion concert at which the name of the award nominees will be unveiled.

The Hip Hop Hall of Fame Awards ceremony will be hold in New York City and a “Sweet 16 Anniversary” DVD will released afterwards compiling the best of the ceremony, the original 1996 TV show, interviews, performances and some of the community socio-economic projects derived from the HHHOF recalling peace summits, marches, education initiatives, and “Get Out the Vote” campaigns.

About the HHHOF ceremony Thompson said “We are very excited to be returning to TV as Hip Hop has re-emerged as the major youth marketing driving force influencing over $250 billion in sales across all product and service categories. The event will help re-establish the HHHOF brand in the marketplace for decades to come.”

I don’t know about you but I will keep an eye on TV this Fall.

Hip Hop Hall of Fame Awards Music Downloads

Continuing with the political fever in America, this weekend will be memorable for hip hop devoted followers heading for the National Hip-Hop Political Convention at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. This is the thrid bi-annual convention and will bring to the discussion panel activists and artists alike.

From August 1 to August 3, several workshops will focus on what is considered one of the most critical elections in America, along with issues such as police brutality, job and health care in urban communities.

Heather Sanchez, spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Local Organizing Committee confirmed the attendance of Rosa Clemente and Jeff Chang along with some of the most renowned activists and artist in the hip hop scene. Sanchez said “The most important thing is the agenda, how we come together collectively to decide on the issues that affect us the most.”

The convention pretends to make aware the nation of the reality that urban communities face everyday, places where the lack of employment and countless issues affect poor people with a diversity of cultures that often find an point of encounter in the hip hop living.

“If you consider yourself part of the Hip Hop community, it’s in your best interest to attend. We’re going to give you the tools to go out and make change in your community,” said Sanchez. A speech from Green Party presidential candidate nominee Cynthia McKinney, is scheduled to close the Las Vegas National Hip-hop Political Convention.

Great idea, isn’t it?

Although the Roxe Jam Hip-Hop Festival is an event of regional importance in the south of Wales, UK, this two-day event is being recognized as one of the most representative events for a new generation of fans joining to the hip-hop culture in Great Britain.

Roxe Jam Hip-Hop festival was founded one year ago as a tribute to one of the youngest hip hop graffiti artists, Bill Lockwood, who died in a road accident in January 2007. Roxe Jam highlights the love for the art and is supported by the Cardiff Council, The Arts Council of Wales, and several Welsh organizations.

The memory of Bill Lockwood, a native Cardiff artist, has helped to bring into the public attention the regional hip-hop music scene, although rappers, DJs and graffiti artists perform in several venues accross the city and not only in the Sevenoaks Park, place at which a 130 meter wall showcases the spray-paint artistic work.

Lou Lockwood, mother of the late Bill and founder of the festival said “I was overwhelmed by the response to last year’s event.” Musician and producer Rhys Adamsn expressed with enthusiasm how “It’s important that there’s an outlet for any artistic community, particularly one that’s based around a youth culture.”

Roxe Jam 2008 lineup include rappers and DJs Me One, Dead Residents, Y Diwygiad and Hoax, Humurak D Gritty, Optimas Prime, Quiet Poison, Out of the Box, Smithy Blade, Flow of Thought, as well as graffiti artists Hoxe, Skroe, Rmer, Foe, Solve, and Biro, among other artists from London, Glasgow, Birmingham and Cambridge.

Did you hear about this festival before?

It is not that strange that politic acts get turned into party time but when it comes to hip-hop, we mean a real party to enjoy at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado next August 25, 2008. National speakers will share their prime time with a constellation of movie stars and hip-hop performers supporting Senator Barack Obama.

Among the actors and musician performing at the convention Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Ben Affleck, Cheryl Hines, Scarlett Johansson, Ed Norton Jr., Maggie Gyllenhaal, Forrest Whitaker, Wyclef Jean, rap-fusion band N.E.R.D. and hip-hop king Kanye West have confirmed their participation.

The Democratic National Convention has also several confirmed sponsors including Google, Motorola, Anheuser-Busch, AT&T, Xcel Energy, United Airlines, Coors Brewing Company, and Qwest.

Althought the convention is aiming to attract the attention on political issues, everybody is focusing on hip-hop remembering an interview to Senator Obama past year in which he referred to his jazz music orientation, naming John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Beyonce and Jay-Z as some of the artists he likes to listen.

As the convention time approaches, more celebrities may join the entertainers list. Chris Lopez, a host committee spokesman said  “We are expecting both the A-List of Hollywood as well as citizens from across the country to show up in Denver and enjoy the convention. There will be something for everyone to enjoy and participate in. It will be an amazing week that will culminate with the historical nomination of Barack Obama at Invesco Field on Thursday evening, August 28.”

Every now and then new artists engage in a battle to break into the mainstream of the music scene, but not all of them succeed, however Ebony Stylez is a name you have to keep in mind when it comes to new bands in the hip-hop scenario. Erick Emmanuel is the band’s front man with a branding concept to play with. According to Emnanuel is lack of branding what makes people lose track of those new artist in the long run towards success.

Ebony Stylez is a band emerging from what Erick Emmanuel defines as a “hard hitting hip hop industry overnight success out of New York City.” Ebony Stylez and Emmanuel have teamed for the past two years featuring hype men and dancers show to make of their concerts one of a kind.

Until now the music and updates on Ebony Stylez activities have been only available through MySpace since Erick Emmanuel has turned down offers from several labels approaching with excellent record deals to keep the artistic side of the band in what we can call a concept image that Alonce Music Agency will promote on radio and TV station for the rest of 2008 before starting a nationwide campaign next year.

Joey Pavel, Representative of Alonce Music Agency revealed that “We get so many submissions every day that our submission team has to go through, but Ebony Stylez moved quickly through our submission process. We were quick to notice their spectacular image and unforgettable sound.”

Discover Ebony Stylez Music

This month Grammy-award winner rapper and actor Ludacris landed a multi-million dollar contract with AT&T to promote phone services offered by this giant communications company. The advertising campaign will take Luda’s image to both online adverts and TV commercials in which he will play the role of a guy who is missing important calls because he is not enjoying AT&T phone service.

For Ludacris the making of this commercial was plenty of fun and said, “If you like the AT&T commercials you’ve seen then you’ll love this one,” commercial that will be aired starting this August.

In the mean time, Ludacris is working on a concept album, “Theater and Mind” to be released on September 2008. Luda’s previous Grammy Award winning sixth album, “Release Therapy,” was released on September 26, 2006 so there is a great expectation floating in the air.

“Theater and Mind” has already a confirmed track, “Let’s Stay Together” produced by DJ Paul for Luda’s recording label Def Jam. Ludacris declared on a recent interview that he has been closely collaborating with Good Charlotte, a Maryland rock band who is best know for supporting PETA’s animal rights campaigns.

Ludacris has also revealed that he would truly like to work with Eminem, one of the highest-selling rappers of all time, so stay tuned because after signing AT&T’S millionaire deal, Luda’s dream is closer to come true sometime soon.

As of now, Luda’s recent works include a featured participation In New Lloyd’s Video and his memorable appearance on BET’s Black Carpet Tonight show past March.

Download Ludacris’ song here

Glastonbury 2008 Festival has witnessed the amazing performance of Jay-Z, the first hip hop artist ever attending the World’s most famous festival. According to the BBC, providing full coverage of the event, Jay-Z literally made Glastonbury bounce on June 28th 2008, day in which he inscribed his name in history as the greatest rapper alive.

Glastonbury or popularly nicknamed as “Glasto,” is an annual festival in South England that presents the best of the performing arts worldwide. From June 27 to June 29th, Jay-Z headlined Glastonbury with an impressive Pyramid stage set.

The night before Glastonbury, Jay-Z was rapping at The Marquee Cork a gig where only “good-natured” gentleman use to appear onstage and making the crowd sings “I hear the rebel boyz in the house tonight,” as soon as he arrived to that place.

People indeed heard one of the rebel boyz, the American rapper that is now part of Glastonbury’s history. Jay-Z was born Shawn Corey Carter on December 4, 1969, another date to put into history. Considered as one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs, Jay-Z as rapper has sold 50 million units worldwide and 26 million copies in the United States alone.

Despite all the criticism before his performance Jay-Z sold out Glastonbury on Saturday Night and his performance entering the stage with Oasis’ “WonderWall” song and “stealing” the show with “99 problems” was broadcast live by BBC Three? in what it is considered as the most talked about headlining performance in history of the Glastonbury festival.

Watch Jay-Z at Glastonbury Festival

Video of the Year: UGK featuring Outkast,
“International Player’s Anthem (I Choose You)”
Best Male R&B Artist: Chris Brown
Best Female R&B Artist: Alicia Keys
Best Male Hip-Hop Artist: Kanye West
Best Female Hip-Hop Artist: Missy Elliott
Best Gospel Artist: Marvin Sapp
Best New Artist: The-Dream
Best Group: UGK
Best Collaboration: Kanye West featuring T-Pain, “Good Life”
Best Video Director: Erykah Badu and Mr. Roboto
Viewers’ Choice Award: Lil Wayne featuring Static, “Lollipop”
BET J Award: Raheem DeVaughn
Best Actor: Denzel Washington
Best Actress: Halle Berry
Female Athlete of the Year: Candace Parker
Male Athlete of the Year: Kobe Bryant

Lil Wayne couldn’t keep the throne for his second week due to the Cold Play wave which sold 721,207 copies of their ‘Viva La Vida’ album.
Lil Wayne is now #2 with 308,505 on the second week and a total of 1,316,211 for Carter III.
Plies’ second week is also pretty strong: 67,678
albums sold (total of 282,579.)
Rihanna’s ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ which was re-released as a CD/DVD with bonuses, went from #124 to #7 with 63,319 copies moved last week (total of 1,307,477.)

N.E.R.D. did some pretty disappointing numbers; on their 2nd week they only sold 23,620 copies and just passed the 100,000 mark.

First week sales:
Blood Raw: 17,406
2 Pistols: 15,794